Jigsaw Pieces
by serendipitous-15
Summary: Friendships are made up of jigsaw pieces just waiting to be put together. A series of one shots and drabbles chronicling Tony and Jimmy's friendship through season nine, a continuation of my Tony and Jimmy friendship series.
1. The Nature of the Beast

**Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to CBS and Don Bellisario. I am just borrowing them for a while.**

_Spoilers: 9x01 'Nature of the Beast'_

_I know, I know I was gone all summer but now I'm back! So, what did people think of the season opener? _

* * *

><p><em>May<em>

"Hey, Tony—"

"I can't tell you about it," Tony said immediately once Jimmy sat down. Jimmy, in turn, gave him a credulous look.

"I wasn't going to—"Jimmy began to protest.

"So don't ask okay, Jimmy?"

"I wasn't going to ask about _that_! I was going to tell you that they were out of iced tea so I got you lemonade instead," Jimmy replied, exasperated, as he handed over the bottle of lemonade.

"…oh. Thanks Jimmy."

The two men ate their meal in companionable silence. If Tony noticed, the furtive looks Jimmy sent in his direction he made no mention of them and for that Jimmy was grateful.

"You want to meet for drinks after work?" asked Jimmy. "It's been busy at the hospital this past week, really busy," Jimmy finished in explanation.

"Sorry, I've got work."

"Another time then," Jimmy replied before heading in the direction of the hospital.

XXXXXX

_September_

Tony was mindlessly channeling surfing; it had been a long and eventful day. Director Vance gave him the next two days off to decompress but wanted him to report first thing in the morning the moment he returned. Tony was not looking forward to that meeting, he was also wary of running into Secretary Jarvis again. Tony was under no illusions that the man was finished with him. He was so lost in the last few days' events that he did not hear the door opening; however, he did hear it close. Immediately on alert, Tony quickly crossed the living room to the shelf where he kept his gun safe and quickly opened it up.

"Holy crap, Tony! It's just me!" Jimmy cried out alarmed. Tony looked over to see Jimmy standing in the doorway of the living room.

"Jimmy! What are you _doing_ here? I could have _shot_ you! How did you even get in here?"

"You gave me a key," Jimmy replied slowly and held out his key ring so that Tony could see the key to his townhouse.

"Oh," Tony said simply. "That still doesn't what you're doing here."

"You alright?" asked Jimmy as he watched Tony put his gun away.

"A bit bruised and concussed but otherwise I'm fine, or at least that's what the doctors at the hospital told me though they could have said just said that to get rid of me," Tony replied thoughtfully.

"Let me guess, you were being your charming self."

"I am always charming, Jimmy." In response, Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"I thought you were done with covert missions."

"Yeah, I thought so too but apparently Secretary Jarvis had other ideas about that." Tony sighed and looked up at the ceiling and frowned, the ceiling could use another coat of fresh paint and Tony made a mental note to add paint to his shopping list.

"Tony, are you really okay?" asked Jimmy seriously.

"EJ's still out there somewhere, or her body is anyway, this isn't over." Tony picked up the remote and continued to channel surf before stopping on a movie. It took Tony a couple of seconds to recognize the film on screen but then it hit him and the somber mood in the room just got a bit heavier. "You ever see ever see the movie _Angels With Dirty Faces_ before?"

"No."

"You should, it's a classic."


	2. The Fallibility of Memory

_Spoilers: 9x02 'Restless'_

* * *

><p>"You're awfully quiet tonight," Jimmy observed.<p>

Tony looked up from where he was currently pushing food around on his plate and shrugged. "Got a lot of my mind," he said.

"Care to share?" At that, Tony once again shrugged. "You know you're usually a lot more amiable but tonight it's like pulling teeth to get you to even _engage_ in any conversation," Jimmy pointed out.

Tony sighed, it really was not fair to invite Jimmy over for dinner and then _not_ talk to him, Marisol and his mother had taught him to be a better host than that.

"You ever find yourself telling a story from your past, one you've told for many years, only to realize later down the road that you've changed the important details?"

"Not me personally but apparently my mom has, there is this one story that mom told for years about this stray bird that got into the house when she was growing up and apparently my grandmother, my aunt and mom spent a good hour chasing that bird around. The trouble is my mom wasn't home then, she did call in the midst of the bid chase though, but that story had been told repeatedly for so many years that eventually my mom _thought_ she was there. Plus back when my mom and aunt were growing up neighborhood kids were always at their house so after a while my grandmother just expected there to always be more than one kid in the house at any given time."

"Well, at least for your mom no harm no foul."

"Yeah, I guess so. Why the sudden interest in old stories though?"

"Did I ever tell you about the last homecoming I went to in boarding school?"

"Yeah, apparently you strung someone up on a flagpole by their underwear."

"Turns out that somewhere along the line I switched our roles, which is weird since I've been telling that story for years now and I have no idea why or when I changed things."

xxxxxx

Tony wearily trudged up his walkway, it had been a draining week and all he wanted to do was vegetate in front of his TV for at least a day. Thank god, it was Friday. Sitting in the middle of his small front porch was a package that he had not immediately noticed but now could not escape not noticing it do to having the package block his path. Bending down Tony saw that it was a six-pack of his favorite beer and smiled. His smile got even wider when he recognized the familiar handwriting, for a doctor Jimmy had nice handwriting.


	3. The Wedding Planning Blues

_Spoilers: 8x22 'Baltimore', 9x03 'The Penelope Papers'_

* * *

><p>"Breena, I promise I will be on time tomorrow….I will…Yes, I think your parents and mine would mind very much if we just eloped...See you tonight, okay?" Jimmy deftly maneuvered his way around people to the free park bench at the far side of the small park. "Love you too," Jimmy said before hanging up. Once he sat down, he groaned.<p>

"Let me guess, wedding planning phone call?" asked Tony with a slight smile.

"How'd you guess?" asked Jimmy.

"Because you've been engaged since May," Tony answered matter-of-factly before taking a bite of his fish taco.

"Oh yeah, it's just that this wedding planning stuff is _complicated_ and everyone, I mean _everyone_, has an opinion on what we should do. Breena is having a hard time making decisions and apparently, anything I offer up is the wrong thing. Seriously, how do people survive wedding planning with their sanity intact?"

During Jimmy's rant, Tony was trying very hard to not laugh but by the end, it was obvious that he was failing.

"It's not funny, Tony!"

"Sorry Jimmy, but it kind of is."

"Do you have any suggestions or are you going to just laugh at my predicament?"

"You could always just give her what she wants."

"That's what Gibbs said."

"Maybe you should listen to him; he has been married four times."

"But he's been divorced three times."

"True."

"How did you handle all of this wedding planning stuff?"

"Never been married, Jimmy," Tony reminded him.

"Yeah…but you were engaged once," Jimmy replied quietly.

"And look how that turned out," Tony said with little emotion. He was proud of himself for getting to the point where thinking about his broken engagement with Wendy, thinking about the "what if" no longer hurt. Now, there was just some sadness that he supposed would never go away but he could learn to live with that. "Look Jimmy, you're just going to have to accept the fact that this whole planning a wedding deal is stressful and that you're probably going to wrong or unhelpful at times; I know I was. Are you done with your lunch?"

"Yeah," Jimmy said balling up the wrapper and throwing it into the nearest trashcan.

"Then let's get back, you can ask Henry how to keep sane during wedding planning."

"The security guard?"

"The guy's been married to the same woman for twenty-five years, Jimmy."

"Didn't Henry and his wife get married at city hall over in Germany when he was stationed there and then not tell anyone for a good month?"

"Okay, so maybe he can't give you advice on wedding planning but look at it this way, he can give you advice on marriage."


	4. Blind Date

_Spoilers: 9x05 'Safe Harbor'_

* * *

><p>"Is there are reason why you're glaring at your cell phone?"<p>

"Because it keeps ringing," Tony said simply.

"Isn't that the expressed purpose of a cell phone?" At Tony's look, Jimmy just shrugged. "You made it too easy. If it keeps bothering you then just turn it off."

"Can't," answered Tony.

"Why not?"

"Rule three."

"Ah," said Jimmy, recognition dawning on him. "I thought you tried to fix that."

"We did."

"What happened?"

"We apparently found the perfect woman in Special Agent Borin's book and Gibbs has already dated her."

"Well, obviously he's not dating her now so what happened?"

"She was perfect, that actually was her problem."

"Oh—" the beep of Jimmy's cell phone interrupted them. "Excuse me," Jimmy said before quickly reading his text. "Would it be a violation of rule three if you put your phone on silent?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Because Breena just texted me, she and Evelyn will here in five minutes and the movie will start in ten."

"Remind me why I'm here again."

"Because you said that you were getting eaten up by work and I agreed."

"Well I get that but a blind date, really?"

"I never thought you were one to turn down a date with a hot looking woman, Tony, besides you'll like Evelyn, and Breena speaks highly of her."

"What does she do again?"

"She works at State; she just got back from the Middle East three days ago."

xxxxxx

The two couples sitting in the booth and laughing merrily were the personification of the youthful energy in that Georgetown neighborhood. Any outsider could tell that they were genuinely enjoying each other's company it was infectious.

"Well, it's getting later, I think we're going to call it a night," Jimmy said with Breena nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, it's been fun. Evelyn?" asked Breena turning to her friend.

"I think I'll stay for a bit," Evelyn replied looking across the table at Tony who smiled slightly.

"Okay. Tony, it was nice seeing you again."

"Same to you, Breena, night you two," he said in return.

The last image Jimmy and Breena saw of their friends was of two people sitting across from other fully caught up in the conversation and enjoying each other's company. They smiled to themselves; it looks like Tony and Evelyn were hitting it off.


	5. Online Dating Tales

_Spoilers: 8x22 'Baltimore', 9x06 'Thirst'_

* * *

><p>"An internet dating site, really, Palmer?"<p>

Jimmy looked up from the notebook he was currently reading to see Tony sitting across from him. He quickly glanced at his watch surprised to find that his ten-minute break was almost over.

"Why does that shock you, Tony?" asked Jimmy returning his gaze to his notebook. "My luck meeting women has never been spectacular, you know that."

"Well then how did you meet Sarah Nolan?"

"Study group for my freshman bio class," he answered before shutting his notebook. "There were almost a hundred of us that class so it was a nice surprise to find out that some of us lived near each other; she lived in the dorm building next to mine."

"Figures."

"You've never tried online dating?"

"One of my buddies convinced me to sign up for one once after what happened with Wendy, they thought that I was beginning to get lonely, the results were…interesting to say the least."

"Really? How so?"

"You know the kind of people who come out of the woodwork on Halloween?"

"Yeah."

"Well, apparently they all hide out on the internet the other three hundred sixty four days of the year."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea."

"Did you find anyone you liked at all?"

"There was one," Tony said after thinking about it for a minute. "I liked her, a lot."

"What was her name?"

"Meredith, she was a professor at George Mason."

"What happened?"

"We had fun, enjoyed each other's company," Tony shrugged, "not much else to tell." At Jimmy's look, Tony sighed and continued. "She took a temporary position at UCLA, teaching for just one semester, we made it work, but then UCLA offered to make it permanent since one of the tenured professors was retiring."

"Let me guess, she took them up on their offer."

"Their department was more prestigious and they offered her better money and benefits, wouldn't you?"

"Can't say I blame her."

"I didn't either. I was, _am_, happy here in DC, Jimmy, I didn't want to move to the other side of the country, last I heard she gained tenure and found a nice guy. So what about you, Jimmy, have any interesting online dating horror stories?"

"A couple, Breena was the fifth woman I met on the ScholarDate site and the first who wasn't grossed out by what I did or studied actually, she found it fascinating."

"She's an embalmer," Tony pointed out. "It stands to reason that she wouldn't get creeped out by dead people."

"True, before her the only other woman who took any interest in what a medical examiner did was Abby."

"Abby sleeps in a coffin and has a friend who collects death masks; _of course_ she would find what you do interesting."

"I guess that was a given."

"Well here's hoping that Ducky has as much success with online dating as you, Palmer."

"It's nice isn't? Seeing Doctor Mallard happy like this, I mean."

"Yeah, it's always nice to see Ducky happy. Come on, we have a mystery to solve."

As they were walking back to the building, Jimmy turned to say something. "Oh hey, want to see something cool?"

"What?"

"A water logged brain, when we weighed Lieutenant Simms' brain we found it to be about a pound heavier than it should be and you can see the excess fluid in the intracellular spaces of the brain. I can show you when we get back."

"I think I'll pass on that, Jimmy."

"Your loss," Jimmy replied shrugging. "I told Breena about it and she's jealous, the only time she's seen a water logged brain in person was in a class."

"And that, Palmer, is why you two click."


	6. Bucket List

_Spoilers: 9x08 'Engaged Part 1_

* * *

><p>"Tony, is there a reason why you're staring at elevator button panel?"<p>

Tony looked up to the slightly concerned and confused look on Jimmy's face.

"You ever think about it, Jimmy?"

Think about what?"

"How short life is."

Jimmy stared at the elevator door as he tried to gather his thoughts, did he ever think about how abruptly life could end? Of course, it was practically impossible not to when his present job and future career revolved around death.

"Of course," he replied turning to look at Tony. "How can I not?"

Realization dawned on Tony and he had the good sense to look embarrassed about asking a future medical examiner if he ever thought about how short life could be.

"This is case is really getting to you, isn't it?"

"You could say that, Jimmy," Tony replied with a heavy sigh. "You could say that."

xxxxxx

"Tony, what are you doing?"asked Jimmy as he watched his friend take a pen and cross off an item off a piece of paper. What's that list?"

"It's nothing."

"Can I see it?"

Tony hesitated, Jimmy was not Tim or Ziva but there was still no guarantee that Jimmy would not find a bucket list foolish. His friend's genuinely curious look, however, won Tony over; this was Jimmy and if there were two people that Tony was certain would never make fun of him for having a bucket list Jimmy was one of them, the other person was Abby.

"Sure," he replied handing over the list.

"That's a pretty neat list, think you'll be able to do all it?"

"That's the plan, Palmer."

"One question though."

"Shoot."

"When and more precisely _why_ were you riding a Ferris wheel naked?"


	7. Red Finger Paint

_Spoilers: 9x09 'Engaged Part 2'_

* * *

><p>"Tony, did you know that you have red paint on your pants?"<p>

Tony sighed, he really hoped that his dry cleaner could get the paint out he actually liked these pants.

"Yeah, Jimmy, I know."

"Tony, _why_ do you have red paint on your pants?"

"Chaplin Burke."

"Chaplin Burke got red paint on your pants?"

"No but it's her fault."

"How is it her fault?"

"She brought me to the daycare center."

"Why did she bring you to the daycare center?"

"She said that I needed to get over my fear of small children."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow at that, it was true that Tony was not known for being good with kids but he seemed to get along well with Jimmy's niece and nephew and Angela and Will's children.

"Tony, you adore Lizzy and Kevin, not to mention Angela and Will's kids, in fact you're a godparent to their kids. They were all small once, well, Lizzy still kind of is small."

"But that's different."

"How is it different?"

"Because I know them."

Jimmy was about respond with his own retort but then thought better of it. This was quickly turning into one of those circular arguments that he and Lauren had when they were children and if memory served him correctly those arguments never had a satisfactory end.

"Did you at least get over your fear of small children?"

xxxxxx

"_That wasn't so bad, was it DiNozzo?"_

_Tony shrugged in response. Yes, it was not as bad as he initially feared but it was still on the awkward side, he did not spend enough time around small kids to know how to interact with them._

"_You could say that," he responded._

"_You can act as nonchalant as you want but I saw you warm up to those kids, in fact, it looks like you made a new friend," Chaplain Burke said referring to the little girl, Melinda was her name, who took the initiative and ran up to Tony when the door opened._

_Tony turned to look at the chaplain and was transported back two decades to his more innocent days back in college. Charlotte would give him that exact same look whenever he tried to play off something as not a big deal when it really was. She would let continue his charade to keep up appearances in public but that look told him that she knew that it was all an act._

"_Agent DiNozzo?" asked a worried Chaplain Burke bringing Tony back to the present._

"_Yes?" asked Tony hoping that she would not question him spacing out._

"_You okay?" _

_No such luck._

"_I'm fine; it's just that you reminded me of someone I knew, that's all."_

"_Really?"_

"_I think you would have liked her, I know that she would have liked you."_

"_Perhaps we can meet and decide for ourselves."_

"_No chance of that happening unless your cell phone plan has a wider range than planet Earth."_

xxxxxx

"You could say that."

"So what do you think of Lieutenant Commander Burke?" asked Jimmy switching topics. Tony could not help but sigh internally; he just could not catch a break today.

"She's certainly an interesting and strong woman."

"Think you guys will cross paths with her again?"

"Well seeing as she's just been recently assigned here and we seem to have our fair share of dead Sailors and Marines and their families I'm sure we will."


	8. Distraction

_Spoilers: 9x10 'Sins of the Father'_

_Hello there, long time no see. The end of 2011 got a bit hectic with the holidays and a temp job that was a grown-up 8-5 job that ended last month. I'm also in the midst of doing grad school applications and I swear it feels like I'm an unwitting participant in a psych experiment because the whole application process certainly FEELS like it was designed by psychology researchers. This update should get my back in the swing of things so hopefully the next chapter won't take forever. _

* * *

><p>When Jimmy arrived in the bullpen Tony was the only one still in their section, the others were off trying to solve the case and Tony was trying to not let being banned from the case get to him. Regrettably Tony was not succeeding in conveying that sentiment, Jimmy watched as his friend handled the cold case files with more force than necessary.<p>

"Did the files do something to offend you, Tony?" asked Jimmy causing Tony to look up startled.

"No," the agent replied sullenly.

"Ah, so you're mad about being benched."

"How could you tell?"

"Tony, if looks could kill those files would be a pile of ash right now. Since you're not really busy let's go have lunch."

"You're here to spring me, Palmer?"

"I even got permission," the other man replied after pushing the lobby button.

"Really, from who?"

"From the top," Jimmy said simply.

Before Tony could question Jimmy any further the medical resident ushered him towards the car. While Tony was surprised by the development he just shrugged, the lunch hour was long enough to ensure that they got back in time provided Jimmy was not thinking about driving into the heart of DC. Unfortunately, for Tony they actually were heading towards the Capitol.

"Uh, Jimmy, _why_ are we here?" asked Tony once they were parked within walking distance of the Capitol.

"I wanted mac and cheese," replied Jimmy when they lined up in front of the food truck. "And I really like their mac and cheese," he replied once he received his order.

"But that's not why we're really here, is it, Jimmy?"

"You caught me," Jimmy replied with a small smile, giving no indication that he was at all sorry. "So talk."

"About what?" asked Tony turning to his friend.

"This case involves your father, you tell me."

"I don't know what to think," Tony said, his head in his hands muffling his voice slightly.

"Do you think he did it?"

"Yes…no…I don't know!" Tony exclaimed. "McGee and Ziva came back from their interview, they had security footage of my dad's meeting, it doesn't look good," he said in explanation.

Jimmy nodded sympathetically and opened his mouth to say something only be to be beaten by Tony.

"Despite our relationship, despite how crazy he makes me he's my dad and he's not a bad guy, you know. I don't want him to go to jail."

"We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise, Tony."

"And what if he did kill Massey?" asked Tony looking down at his food.

"Then we will cross that bridge if and when we get there."

Nothing was said for the next twenty minutes as the two men enjoyed their lunch and pleasant weather, it was not often that they had the opportunity to enjoy such nice weather during a weekday. Tony looked down at his watch; their lunch break was just about over. Jimmy would have to return to the hospital and he would have to return to the box of cold cases, the thought of having to review case files while his father's freedom was at stake returned Tony to his morose mood.

"It's about time we head back to the Navy Yard, isn't it?"

"Yeah, about that…"

"What's going on, Palmer?" asked Tony instantly suspicious.

"You're not going back to the Navy Yard, at least not right away."

"What? Palmer, my father could very well be charged with murder, why the hell am I not going back to the Navy Yard this instant?"

"Because you're going to the Capitol," Jimmy stated matter-of-factly. Tony stared; he certainly was not expecting _that_. "You're going to go talk to one of Representative Cooper's aides about NCIS' activities for the year, just a brief summary of overall duties and how they may or may not grow in the follow years."

"Seriously, why can't someone from admin go?"

"Because you were helping Special Agent Hastings organize the stuff to bring to the Capitol so you know what's what and he's out today."

"Oh yeah, Paul's daughter is sick, I think she has the stomach flu," Tony said as he remembered how harried his FLETC roommate sounded over the phone in the morning; apparently Olivia was up all night throwing up. She only wanted her mother but unfortunately Juliet was currently floating somewhere in the Persian Gulf.

"Exactly and Director Vance decided that you should go in his place, since you were helping him and all."

"Did Director Vance put you up to this?"

"Maybe," Jimmy said evasively.

"Come on, Palmer, I'm your friend."

"But he's the director and he can fire me. Tony, you know you can't work on your father's case; this is just the Director's way of making sure that you stay as far away from this case and your dad as possible."

"Let me guess, the files are in your car."

"Locked in the trunk."

Tony sighed in defeat and followed his friend back to the car where the other man retrieved a small pile of manila folders.

"So how long will this take?" asked Tony after he slipped the folders into his backpack.

"Not long, two or three hours at the most."

"Two or three hours!" he squawked.

"It's only for today, Tony," Jimmy reminded his friend. "Well, unless Hastings' daughter is still sick," he added.

"Keep me updated?"

"I will," Jimmy promised.

"Tell Gibbs and the Director I hate them," Tony said as he turned to walk towards the Capitol building.

"I'd rather not, I like being employed _and_ alive."

Once Tony was out of earshot Jimmy took out his phone and called the Capitol switchboard.

"Hey Zach, it me."

"_Jimmy, what's up man? How's the hospital?"_

"It's fine, busy but fine. Listen, I'm giving you a heads up; the agent you're supposed to meet with today isn't here because his kid's sick in his place in another agent, don't worry he knows his stuff he was actually helping Special Agent Hastings get all the stuff together."

"_Who's the agent?"_

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," replied Jimmy bracing himself for Zach's explosion. Zach and Tony had met before when a case brought NCIS to the Capitol, their first meeting had been a complete disaster.

"_He's not going to shoot at me this time, is he?"_

"That depends; will security let him keep his gun?"

"_I don't know I've never come to work packing. Hey listen, I gotta go, it's almost time for the meeting. If you don't hear from me after the meeting call to make sure that DiNozzo didn't attempt to shoot me…again."_

"I will, Zach. Bye," Jimmy said before disconnecting. "Though once Tony sees which aide he's meeting today he may very well just wait and shoot me instead," he said to his now silent smartphone.


	9. Holidays and InLaws

_Spoilers: 9x11 'Newborn King'_

_So watching the episodes leads me to believe that they have completely retooled Jimmy's backstory because I don't even think they're writing him as a medical student/resident now. However, since I started this whole journey way back with season four when he **was** starting medical school I'm going to stay with my idea of Jimmy graduating from medical school and currently being a resident. Also in Jimmy's conversation with Ducky he mentions his father in the past tense so I guess that his dad is dead but seeing as his father in my story is very much alive I'm going to keep him alive._

* * *

><p>"Where's your shadow, Palmer?" Jimmy looked up to finding Tony staring at him.<p>

"Ed's in the bathroom," he replied still distracted by Ed's job offer and Ducky's words of advice.

"Your future father-in-law is…quite a character," Tony said reluctantly. What Tony really wanted to say was that Ed Slater was curmudgeon of the worst kind and kind of jerk but the guy was Jimmy's future father-in-law so he would hold his tongue.

"Anything you want to share?"

Jimmy hesitated, Tony was his friend and much like Ducky could be counted on giving him something to think about and sound advice.

"Ed offered me a job. He wants Breena and me to come work for him."

"He does know you're a medical resident, right? Breena was at your graduation, I'm sure she told her parents about it."

"He does…"

"But?"

"But if being a medical examiner means I'll be working for a federal agency working long hours and making less than I would in the private sector then I think Ed would rather I just go work for him."

"Well, pretend for a minute you're not a medical examiner in training would you want to work for Ed?"

Jimmy shrugged, he was not too keen on the idea but well, Breena was definitely a bit of a daddy's girl and she really wanted them to get along. He would do it not matter how much he did not want to work with Ed if doing so would make Breena happy. Tony stared at his younger friend and immediately recognized his dilemma.

"Hey Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"Piece of advice, Breena fell in love and said yes to the guy who was a medical student and is now a doctor. She's happy with the guy she has now, don't change careers just to make her dad happy, you're not marrying him after all."

"Thanks, Tony."

"Anytime, Palmer, anytime."

xxxxxx

_December 26_

"Merry Christmas!" Tony said in greeting when Jimmy opened the door.

"Merry Christmas, Tony," replied Jimmy with a smile taking the offered bag of food leading his visitor into the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas, Breena," Tony said as he gave a quick peck on the cheek. "You look wonderful."

"Thank you, Tony. Oh, is this your polenta?" asked Breena taking out a foil-covered dish.

"Yup with osso bucco to go with it."

"You didn't have to, Tony," Breena said.

"I know," replied Tony shrugging, "but it's not often that I get to cook anything for more than one person."

"Jimmy will be pleased; he absolutely loves your polenta."

"Why do you think I made it?" asked Tony with a smile. Breena smiled back at him. "Oh before I forget, here you go," he said giving Breena the envelope from his back pocket. "The maître d'hôtel is a buddy of mine; he promised me that he'd make sure you two got a good table when you go."

"Thank you, Tony," Breena said embracing him in a warm hug. "Come on, the movie's about to start and your gift is under the tree."

Hours later after the movie had been watched and the three had talked over lunch while they enjoyed the food Tony and Jimmy found themselves alone in the living room. Breena was currently in the kitchen preparing the after lunch dessert; she had barred them from the kitchen while she put the final additions on the dessert, a family secret that she was not willing to share just yet. Jimmy turned to Tony looking at him expectantly.

"I sat outside in my car for about twenty minutes."

"Did you think about going in?"

"Thought about it, even almost made it out of the car a couple of times."

"Do you regret not going?"

"Yes…no…maybe…I'm not really sure, not really sure if I want to see Wendy again even if it's been almost nine years."

"Tony?"

"Yeah, Jimmy?"

"You're happy, right?"

"I am."

"You're not just saying that to get me to stop this line of questioning?"

"What do you think?"

"It's just that…we worry sometimes that you might end up like Gibbs, alone and kind of sad."

"And by we you mean you and Abby."

"Yeah."

"Don't worry about me, Jimmy, I _am_ happy," Tony repeated emphatically. "Besides, I won't end up like Gibbs, especially if Gibbs has anything to say about it," he finished thinking back to the conversation he had with the older agent in his basement the day before. "Now come on, let's see if we can get a sneak peek of this dessert, it better be as delicious as your fiancée says it is."


End file.
